This second part of a study on philanthropy and disability argues that disability must be more fully integrated into the strategies and funding priorities of Canadian philanthropy. Although 27% of the Canadian population lives with at least one disability, people with disabilities remain significantly underfunded, and disability continues to be treated as a marginal cause within philanthropic agendas.
This research reveals a vicious cycle: chronic underfunding limits and constrains the professionalization and structuring of disability rights charities, which in turn justifies foundations’ reluctance to invest. The analysis shows that even equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) frameworks, which have enabled the emergence of substantial funding for other marginalized groups, systematically exclude disability as a priority area or relegate it to a secondary position.
The report identifies three main explanatory mechanisms for this phenomenon: (1) philanthropic actors’ perception of disability as the exclusive responsibility of the state; (2) the fragmentation of disability-focused organizations, itself produced by a lack of resources; (3) the absence of disability in the concrete application of EDI policies. It concludes with a call for transformative philanthropic reinvestment both in disability-related causes and within philanthropic strategies and frameworks themselves, so that disability becomes a systematic and legitimate dimension of grantmaking. The report also formulates specific operational recommendations to support this shift. This research adopts a critical and transformative perspective, grounded in disability studies and the critical philanthropy studies. Its goal is not to produce an exhaustive statistical portrait, but to analyze the mechanisms of exclusion.
